Mackey's post about re-naming RPG characters took me back to a special place. I admit I'm lazy about re-naming my characters these days, but there was a time when my habits made my parents fear for the monikers of their grandchildren.
Actually, thinking about it, my mother mostly egged me on.
I think there's some kind of karma going on for people who gave game characters swear-names. Recently I needed a video of Cloud in the Mako reactor at the start of Final Fantasy VII for a whimsical, memory-heavy blog post elsewhere. The only appropriate video had Cloud branded as "El Boner."
Secret of Mana was my first Super Nintendo RPG. I named the girl "Bitch" because I'm creative and hilarious. After that, the the fate of each female character in subsequent RPGs was sealed. Nothing against the characters themselves. It was just tradition.
It's wasn't all about bongs and female dogs, though. I've always been one for naming schemes. Each cast member in Final Fantasy VI was named after someone in the first season of Power Rangers--except for Terra. You can probably guess what I named her.
When I played the Playstation and Game Boy Advance remakes of Final Fantasy IV, the world was saved from darkness by the cast of South Park and Glitch Bob from Reboot (as played by Cecil). I like to think that Mr Hat had powers on the level of Tellah the Sage. Curse you Square-Enix for taking away the ability to rename characters in Final Fantasy IV DS. You're lucky Namingway is so cute or else there'd be a brick through your window right now.
I think it's sad our children will grow up renting games on DVD-based mediums instead of cartridges with save batteries. I liked seeing what other people named their characters; it was like peeking into a stranger's brain or bathroom. I like to imagine that these adventures come to life on some other plain of existence, somewhere where a rescued king must thank ASS, PUSSY and TITS for saving his realm from evil.
Related Links:
On Renaming Characters
Character Case Study: When Good Characters Get Bad Attitudes
Many Colors in the Hardcore Rainbow